Token system



W. S. ROBERTS June 14', 1927.

'TOKEN SYSTEM Filed April 6, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet l FIG.

June 14 1927.

W. S. ROBERTS TOKEN SYSTEM Filed April 6, 1.925

4 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 14, 1927. 1 1,632,246

W. S. ROBERTS TOKEN SYSTEM Filed April 6, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 w. s. ROBERTS June 14 1927.

TOKEN SYSTEM Filed April 6. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I FYIQ/Z';

Patented June 14, 1927.

ilhllT-ED STATES? WALTER SYDNEY ROBERTS; OF ORMSKIRK, EEG-LAND, ASSIGNOR- OF ONE- HALF. TO

PA ENT THE RAILWAY: SIGNAL CO1VANEL LIZYIITED, O1 LONDQN, ENGLAND,-A' BRITISH' COMPAN Y.

TOKEN SYSTEM:

Application filed April 6, 1925, Seria1.1 I0. 21,036, and in Great Britain April 14, 1924.

This invention relates to instruments for issuing and receiving tokens in the form of staiis, tablets, or the like for regulating rail way trallic, and has for its object to provide improved arrangements of this character which shall be applicable to single or double linerailwaysoperating upon either the absolute or pernnssive system oi working.

in single line railways the stafis or other tokens employed for authorizing the passage of trailic along a sectlonot the track, Wllllf)" diilerent tor difl'erent sections, arethesametor bo-tl1 directions of movement, that is to say, the stalis or tokensemployed for authorizing the passage of trains or vehicles in the up direction are the same as those 1 01-1 the down direction, so that whenthe permissive system of working isin operation in which a number of trains travelling in the samedirection are permitted to occupy simultane ously a single section of) the track, there is a possibility of the stall on the authority, of which a train passes throughthe section being issued when, the train reaches the endof the section to a train proceeding 1n the op posite direction, since the staii' is equally valid authority for a train travelling in either direction.

In order to overcome this difiiculty, ac-

cording to the present invention, each staff or other token is appropriate not only to a.

particular section of thetrack but to one direction o-nl ot travel Within that section,

thu providing what may be termed a unidirectional token system ot control oi tralhe,

h c rein direction that in the as down tokens, it being understood errcd to as up tokens, and; those authm'izing movement in the opposite .10 case of the token iristrumentat in at one end of the section the up tokens are issued to a train on departure from that station, and are received by the tokeninstrument atthe station-at the other end of the section upon the arrival of the train. Conversely, the down tokens are isued fromythe tokeninstrument atthelat ter station and are received by the token instrument at the first station. The depal-tare token at Tone instrument thus be comes an arrival token at the otheriinstru- I ment and vice versa, as will be readily "under stood by those skilled in the art.

The invention is illustrated by Way of ex ample in the accompanying, drawings, of which.

Figure l is' a diagrammatic view of the two: itt'instruments provided one at. each end or i single line section of railway track Figures 2 and 3 are views'ot anup' staff and a down stall respectively, which? may be employed with the instruments of'Figurel;

Figure lis a sectional tront view ofa portion ofthe head of oneiot the stall instruments Figure 5 is a side View of a portion of the mechanism shown in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a view in horizontal section of the lower portion oi" one of the staii' instruments'ot l llgure 1;

Figure 7 isa view in front elevation of'ia permissive start instrument embodying the invention;

Figure 8 a side view of tlielowenportion thereof; v

Figure 9 is a view in tront'elevation of an up stafli magazine adapted to be employed in connection with the staff instruments;

, Figure 10 is a planview thereof;

Figures 11 and 12 are views similar to Figures '9 and 10 respectively, butof a-down stati' magazine;

Figure 13 is a view in side elevation of" the key provided on the stall instruments" and magazines;

Figure M is a sectional view' of the locking slides with which this key co-operates,

and Fig. is a detail or the "bolt locking mechanism Referring now to the drawings, itwill be seen that twostafiinstruments are shown;

in Figure 1 as arrangedjin theusualmanner at the ends A,B of a section of track; Each;

of these instruments is provided with a slotted staff receptacle arranged in the usual manner in the lower part of the instrument, this receptacle being however, subdivided into two compartments, the slots i11- dicated at 1 being adapted to accommodate up stalls only and those indicated at 9. to ac commodate down stalls only. This selective action is efi'ected by the crosssectional form of the receptacle slots, as, shown inFigure 6. The up stall shown in Figure 2 is provided ,withfour operating collars or rings 3, 4, 5,6, the down stall shown in F1 gure 3 being similarly provided with collars or rings 7, 8,9, 10, which are, however, differently spaced along the stall lrom the collars of the npstall. The up anddown statls are further distinguished bytablets 11, 12

of differentdistinctive shapes. It will be seenby reference to Figure 6 that the re ceptacle slots lareprovided with recesses 27, 28, .29, 'to accommodate the rings 3,

; 4, 5, 6, respectively of the up stall. while the slots 2 are provided with recesses 81, .32, 33, 3st, to accommodate'the rings 7, 8, l), 10 respectively ol' the'down stall.

Each stall instrument while permitting the insertion of both up and down stalls is, according to a still further feature of the invention, so constructed that only one type of stall can be issued therefrom in the usual manner,.that is to say, the stall instrument fat A station may receive both up and down stalls but can only issue up stalls while the instrument at the other station B can receive both up and down stalls but can only issue down stalls. At each instrument the withdrawal of the stalls the issue of which in the usual manner is prevented, that is to say, the down staffs at the first station and the up stalls at the second station, is arranged to be effected by a magazine;

Separate magazines are providedfor the up and down staffs and are so constructed as to receive only the particular type of up u and down stallsfor the section to which they correspond.

out of engagement with a notch 23 in they disc 14 when an up stall is inserted into or "removed from the instrument; The functioriol the pawl 19 is to return the pawl15 positively to its normal or locking position as the stall passes into the passage 25 on its through the apertures way to the stall receptacle, a projection 21 on the pawl 19 engaging with the toe 18 of the pawl 15 for this purpose.

The rib 17 usually provided on the pawl 15 is cut away adjacent to the toe 18 as shown, so that the pawl 15 can only be raised by the collar 4 on the up stall engaging with the toe 18, there being no corresponding collar on the down stall. An up stall can thus either be inserted intoror removed from the instrument of Figure l, the collar a on this stall unlocking the pawl 15 to permit the issue of the staff. Upon attempting to remove a down stall, however, the collar 8 will register with the cut away portion of the rib 17 so that this stall cannot release the pawl 15 to permit theissueol' a down staff. 7

At the B instrument, on theother hand, the rib 17 is not cut away at the end, the toe 18 being cut away so as not to he engaged 8 by thecollar a or an up stall, whereas the collar 8 of a down stall will engage with the uninterrupted rib l7 and thus actuate the pawl 15. An up stall cannot thus be removed from the B instrument.

The insertion of both up and down s alls into either instrument is, how-ever, permitted in the usual manner, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

Referring now to Figures 7 and 8 it will be seen that the head 26 oi the stall instrument is supported upon the stall receptacle '35 which is mounted upon a base 36. The

stalls being indicated at 37, and that for the down staffs at 38. The apertures 87,

are provided with a sliding bolt 39 adapted when in its normal position, as shown in Figure 7, to prevent the passage oft stalls 37, 38, but when moved to the right or left to tree the aperture 37 or the aperture 38 respectively so to enable stalls tobe withdrawn from the slots 1 or the slots 2 of the receptacle 35. The bolt 39 is arranged to be operated inanually by a lznob ll) and is normally locked in the position shown by the lock nism shown in Fig. 15 and herei scribed, and adapted to be unloc key carried in a magazine, entering a key slot all for this pu secondkey a2 is mounted in the iron t base 36 and is adapted to be moved outwards by means ol a knob 13 sons to project beyond the front face of the base 36 to enter a key slot in the magazine.

Adjacent to trelower end of the outer slot 1 and of the outer slot a ivotally mounted supporting element" is provided adapted to carry he column oi stalls above it, this supporting element compri" 'a pair of cams 45 pivoted at 46 to the receptacle and connected together by a crossbar 49 serving as an operating handle and a stop. A projection 47 on each of the cams is act-ed upon by a spring 48 in such a manner as normally to maintain the cams 45 in the position shown, a space being left in the receptacle below the supporting element so as to enable a staff to be readily transferred from the magazine to the receptacle without this action being impeded by the weight of the column of staffs already inuthe receptacle. a

A table 44 extends" outwards from the front of the base 36, for supporting a iiiagazine in position during the transference of staifs between the instrument and the magazine, the upper surface of the table 44 being provided with a peg or projection 89 adapted to enter a corresponding recess in the base of the magazine (indicated at59 in Figure adapted to co-operate with the iiistrument, thus preventing'inagazines appro priate to other tracl' sections from being en'iployed, the magazine for down stailits being shown in Figures 9 and 10.

Referring to these figures it will beseen that the magazine comprises a body portion provided with a curved slot for accon'in'iodating the stalls which can only enter or leave the slot 51 through an aperture 57 of sufficient diameter to permit the collars -r rings on a staff to pass longitudinally therethrough. The aperture 57 is normally obstructed by the end of a slide or bolt which is normally locked in the position shown by a lock mechanism adapted 'to be released by the-insertion of the key 42 shown in Figure 7 into the key slot of the locking mechanism on the 1nagazine,-

A key 54 is provided in the ii'iagazine' ure 9. so that the key 54 can onlybe pro+ j-ected when the magazine is in position on the instrument, since only under these conditionscan the slide 5 be moved toits open position, being released by the key 42 on the ,instruniient. W'hen, therefore, the mag azine is removed from the staff instrument, he magazine key 54:18 always necessarily retr acted within the body of the magazine,

so as to be protected from injury and in-* accessible for inspection, thus preventing any possibility of the key beingimproperly reproduced. The inagazine'bodysw is provided with a handle 56 for convenience in transport. i

The upstaif magazineshown in Figures ii. and '12 is similar to the down stat magazine above described with reference to Figures 9 and 10, except that the aperture 67 82, 83, 84 respectively, providedwith con-- trolling springs 85, 8 6, and 87.

- l'iy'reference to Figure 14, it will be evident that when the key is withdrawn from the key slot the plungers 79, 80, 81 and 82, 84 lock the slide 74 to the body of the lock casing 78, whereas, when the proper key is i iserted into the key slot 75, the ends of the plungers 79, 80, 81 which are each of the same axial length the thickness of the slide 74 lie flush with the upper and lower faces of the slide 74 so that the latter is free to be displaced. V

When the slide 74 is thus displacedv the key is evidently prevented from being with drawn from the key slot 7 5 until the slide 74 is returned to its normal position, the plungers 76, 77 and 78 engaging the indentations 70, 71, 72 respectively.

T he slide indicated at 74 inFi'gure 14 corresponds to the slide 39 of Figure 7, and to the slide 52 of Figures 9 and 10, the keys indicated at 42 in Figure 7 and at 54 in Figure 9 being of the general form shown in Figure 13.

In operation it will be understood that the magazine shown in Figures 9 and 10, for instance, is first placed in position on the table 44 of the staff instrument shown inFigtires 7 and 8. The key 42 is then caused by operating its knob 43 to enter the key slot i 53 in the magazine and thus unlock the slide rs) The latter. can then be moved into its open position to free the aperture 57 at the sai'ne'tiine permitting the key '54 to'be projected forward by means of its knob 55 so to enter the key slot 41 on the staff instrumen't. The insertion of the key 54 unlocks the slide 39 which can then bemoved to free the aperture 38; s

The'co-operating apertures 38 and 57 on the'instrument and magazine respectively being thus treedthestaffs in the slot recept'acles 2 can be transferred to the magazine,

each staff being moved from the slots 2 in the staff instrument pastnthe right hand pair of cams '45 by moving these came out-,

wards by means'ot the'eross'bar49. Each stat? in turn is thus caused to register with the aperture'38 in the base 86 of the staff instrun'ient and is then moved longitudinally forward so as to enter the aperture 57 in the magazine, andthus pass into the slot 51. As many staii's as desired can thus be transierred troin the stall instrumentto themagazine, and during this'operation it will be understoodthat the'magazine cannot be v1-emoved from the table as on the stalf instrument. as themagazme andbase 56 or" the instrumentare held locked together'by, the action of the keys 42 and ,WVhen the transference of the desired number of staiis has been completed, the key 5% in the magazine is withdrawn by means of the knob 55, and the shde52 is moved into. itsclosed po sition. The slide39 onjthe stall instrun'ient is then IQFJtOIQCl'tO'itS normal position as shown inl-Figure 7 and the key 42'is withdrawn from the key slot 53 on the magazine by means of the knob 43. 7 .7

Owing to the closed position of the slides on the magazine and 39011 the vstaii' instrument, it will be evidentlthat both the magazine I and the instrument are again r of inegar Line may be, transferred to the staff indescribed. y

'llhe same operations in connection with the transiiierence'of upfstatfs canevidently be effected by the employmentot the apstrument inn similar manner to that vabove propriate magazine shown in. Figures 11 and 12, thestatl' apertru'e 67 ottlus magazine be ing adapted to register withthe stait aperture 37 shown in Figure 7. i

In'the casewof systems intended for both,

absolute andpermissive blocleworking on single lines, the tokens may be. further appropriated into' permissive and absolute tokens toreach-direetion, the token receptacles'in the instruments and themagazines for the transference of non-issuable tokens from one instrument to the other being'similarly appropriated to one ot'the; four. types 0 i token 'ei'nployed, viz, :up permissive tokens,

- up absolutetokens-down permissivetokens, and downabsolute tokens. Each of the token "instrume ts will in thiszcase, be provided with separate compartments or receptacles t'orthe ditterenttypcs ot'token and the magazine will similarly be adapted to accommo date only one type of token, as will be read: ilyvunderstood. i

In the case of double line railways having. separate lines for traffic in the two directions, separate token instruments for up and down tokens'may be provided. each endot' a section, the up instrument at one endbeing adapted to issue tokens and the up instrument at the other end to receive tokens, the down instrument at the latter end being adapted to issue tokens, and the down instrument at the opposite end to re ceive tokens or in order to reduce the number of instruments required the up and down instruments at each end of the section may 1.

be combined so as to issue up tokens and recelve down tokens or vice versa. In the case of double line railways the standard electrical release mechanism will not be provided in the receiving instruments and the staffs accumulated at each of the instruinents will be transferred to the opposite end of the section by means of maga- Y zines as above described.

The construction and arrangementof the instruments and magazines will be modified accordingly. in the case ofdouble line systems or in the case of systems in which the staffs are further subdivided into different typesas above explained, and in these and other respects the invention is not limited to the particular arrangements above de.-' scribed which may be varied aswill be readily understood, to meet particular conditions. 7

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is :v

1. ,In a tokeneinstrument for-railways, the

combination of a plurality of tokens authorizing travel in one direction only, a plurality of tokens authorizing travel in the opposite direction only, a token instrument for re ceiving both of said types of token, a controlling device on said instrument traversed by both types of token during insertion, a device for mechanically locking said controlling device, and means actuated by both ct' said types of token for releasing said.lock-' ing device when inserted into said instrumentland actuated by only one of said types of token when removing a token from said instrument.

Y 3. In a token instrument for railways, the

combination of a plurality of different types of tokens, a token instrument for receiving tokens of all of said types, and controlling means on said instrument actuated by tokens of all of said types to permit the insertion of said tokens into the instrument and actuated by one type of token only to permit the removal of a token of said type.

4. A magazine for use in connection with a token system as claimed in claim 3, comprising a key adapted to enter a corresponding lock on a token instrument, in which the key is retracted withinthe magazine except when the latter is in position on the instrument, for the purpose specified.

5. A token instrument and magazine therefor for use in connection with the system clalmed in claim 3, and comprising keys on the instrument and magazine adapted to enter corresponding locks on the magazine and instrument respectively, in which the locks are of the subdivided plunger type, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

6. A magazine for use in connection with a token systemas claimed in claim 3, comprising a key adapted to enter a correspond ing lock on the token instrument, in which the projection of the key from the magazine is arranged to be prevented until a slide, normally preventing the transference of tokens 

